Think for Yourself; Question Authority

Author: Anja Heij

The famous magician and occult writer Donald Michael Kraig commences his
teachings by writing down the following characters on a blackboard: TFYQA, which
means Think For Yourself; Question Authority. It is a sign of his greatness of
mind and openness towards the spiritual path of others. In fact he says:
"This is what I have come to know and these are my experiences. Consider my
words and try out for yourself if what is truth for me also is truth for you.
Absorb the wisdom of the outer teacher, turn inwards to hear the soft voice of
the inner intuitive teacher, and let the child of both forces be born as your
own wisdom. No matter how educated, experienced, famous or spiritually evolved
the teacher may be, your own judgements and decisions count even more."

Yesterday I asked the tarot after the subject of my latest article and I drew
the card of the Hierophant, not yet knowing what the issue would be about. Right
now I understand that the process described above is beautifully depicted by
that same Hierophant in Crowley's Thoth Tarot. The card pictures a spiritual
influential figure, an authority in his field. He wears a mysterious smile,
resembling an early bronze statue of Apollo, the Greek god of the sun and the
rational mind. The hierophant has great knowledge of the spoken and written
word. In front of him stands the much smaller figure of Isis, the Egyptian
goddess of the moon and intuition. In one hand she carries a moon, and with her
left hand she holds a large sword in front of her, pointing downwards. This
sword of justice and truth is planted in the earth, as if to say: "knowledge has
to feel good, before it can become part of my world." The heart of the
hierophant is an upward pentagram, symbol of Man, with a young naked child
inside. It represents the pure core of your being, which needs both rational and
intuitive, masculine and feminine input to express itself to the fullest. The
trinity of father, mother and child is the key that opens the door to your
individual way to heaven.

The card of the Hierophant shows that spiritual knowledge goes through the
heart. Therefore tantra states: 'the kingdom of God is within your heart.' And A
Course in Miracles says: 'Teach only love for that is what you are.'

Great spiritual teachers will be a natural authority, but they won't feel the
need for you to do and believe exactly as they do. They will not behave like
someone special or chosen, but help you to claim and find self-mastery. They do
not need your adoration. Evolved spirits will encourage you to move beyond
feelings of guilt and fear and act out of love for the Self and the world.
And they will teach for affordable prices or even for free.

Therefore think twice if a guru requests that you'll meditate on a large
image of him/her. Beware if a teacher claims to be the only one with the
ultimate solution for mankind. Look out if someone states that only his or
her method will bring you to heaven, especially if you have to keep your wallet
wide open. Don't believe you'll get great value just because you paid a lot of
money for it. Pay attention if a person uses impressive language or even
invents his own language to make his/her ideas clear.

I know of a worldwide, very expensive cult, who's leader claimed to be the
only saviour on earth for humanity. His words have to be taken literally, you
are not allowed critical thoughts about this organization, it is highly based on
fear, they use incomprehensible words for outsiders, have their own secret
agency to attack 'suppressive' people, and when you have climbed the ladder of
'spiritual' degrees fairly well they will reveal you the following story.
About 75 million years ago a part of the universe, outside this universe, of
which a certain Xenu was the leader, became overcrowded. So these beings were
sent to 'prison-planet' Earth, only to be destroyed there by hydrogen bombs. The
souls of these poor alien millions are implanted with electronic devices on Mars
and Venus to forget who they were, and next sent to Earth where they were frozen
in icecubes and slowly melted at the bottom of the ocean. After de-icing these
souls cling onto inhabitants of earth, become 'body thetans' and because of
their negative experiences these alien thetans are the true cause of our
unhappiness, negative feelings and disease… So somebody outside did it, you'll
have to fight unknown evil-minded and distorted alien souls trying to keep you
from making spiritual progress…and you'll only get rid of it by joining this
group and their teachings.

Please don't ask me how you would freeze a non-physical soul into an
ice-cube, or how and why you'd implant soul-energy with electronic
devices. Don't ask why only this special leader knows what happened 75
million years ago, and what made him the chosen one to find out this crucial
knowledge. Don't inform why after the remarkable period of 75 million years
frustrated souls still influence us in a negative way.

To me it seems that we have to do with real bad, bad science fiction made up
by someone who's mental and emotional health is at stake. The story both is
hilarious and deeply sad. But please draw your own conclusions. This is a
smart organization; they will get you off the ground and removed from daily
reality bit by bit, and tell you this crap after you have paid far too much, so
you will feel you'll have to believe it. They call themselves the church of
scientology.

Love has nothing to do with control and fear. Love will let you know that you
are your own leader, for you are part of the God-force. Love will teach you to
be your own authority. Therefore feel this enormous warm, infinite and
passionate power running through you when someone tries to impose his or her
'truth' upon you. Know that you are guiltless, shameless love yourself and a
child of the receptive, compassionate Goddess. Accept that many ways lead to
Rome, but even more to the God and Goddess. We are all special and chosen - or
none of us is. Fear is a very bad teacher.

Suggested News Resources

If you're anything like me you think to yourself, what's going on? How much worse can it get? Sometimes I just think it would be easier not to read the newspapers or watch the news because it is filled with negativity about the bad things that happen.

Timothy Leary, who had an amazing ability to come up with bumper-sticker-sized thoughts, used to say, "Question authority and think for yourself." I've found those words to be incredibly important in innovation and how to live life.

It felt more like a year and it was wonderful. The most rewarding thing about the experience is that I was able to think outside of the box. I gave myself the chance to question authority and that is very important for people to do.

As I described in Part 2 of this series, best practices are the solutions for yesterday's problems, and you have to think for yourself. The behavioralists would argue the opposite – you can't think things through.